Fastening tape arrangement for disposable diapers

ABSTRACT

Pressure sensitive fastening tapes for disposable diapers in which the free end of the tape has the pressure-sensitive adhesive area covered by at least two separately removable sections of a protective covering sheet. One section may be removed for the initial fastening of the diaper leaving the other section in place. When it is desired to adjust the fastening of the diaper, the original fastening can be undone and new adhesive means provided by removing the second section to uncover a fresh unused adhesive area.

0 lJnited States Patent 1191 1111 3,848,596 Penman Nov. 19, 1974 [54] FASTENING TAPE ARRANGEMENT FOR 7 3,630,201 l2/l97l Endres 128/287 BISPOSABLE DIAPERS 3,642,001 2/1972 Sabee 128/287 3,646,937 3/1972 Gellert 128/287 [75] Inventor: Karl L. Pennau, Neenah, Wis.

[73] Assignee: Kimberly-Clark Corporation, Primary Examiner-Richard Gaudet Neenah, w Assistant Examiner-Henry J. Recla Attorney, Agent, or FirmDaniel J. Hanlon, Jr.; [221 Flled= July 2, 1973 William D. Herrick; Raymond J. Miller [2]] Appl. No.: 375,816

[57] ABSTRACT 52 us. (:1 128/284 117/122 D Pressure sensitive fastening tapes diSPOSahIe 51 1111. c1. A61f 13/16 Pers which the free end the tape has Pres- [58] Field of Search l28/284 128/132 sure-sensitive adhesive area covered by at least two 1 17/122 separately removable sections of a protective covering sheet. One section may be removed for the initial fas- [56] References Cited temng of: the diaper leaving the other section in place. When it is desired to ad ust the fastening of the diaper, UNITED STATES PATENTS the original fastening can be undone and new adhesive 13;? yaherslelh means provided by removing the second section to unones 3,616,114 10 1971 Hamaguchi.... 117/122 P cover a fresh unused adheswe area 3,620,217 l-l/l97l Gellert 128/284 7 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures FASTENING TAPE ARRANGEMENT FOR DISPOSABLE DIAPERS to adjust the fit of the diaper. In order to do any of these, the tape must be peeled from the diaper and then refastened. Such an operation often destroys the tackiness of the tape or tears the tape or diaper which makes refastening difficult or impossible.

The present invention is directed to a tape structure which permits the tape-fastening means to be opened and then refastened.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The reusable fastening tape device of this invention comprises a conventional elongate strip of pressuresensitive adhesive tape in which one end portion of the tape is secured to a back corner of the diaper with the unsecured end portion extending beyond the diaper edge. The unsecured end portion is covered with a removable protective covering divided into separately removable sections.

When the diaper is fastened onto the child, only one of the protective cover sections is removed, and the pressure-sensitive adhesive area thus exposed is used to fasten the diaper. When it is desired to inspect or adjust the diaper, the tape is peeled from its fastened position, another section of the protective cover is removed and the tape refastened by using the fresh area of adhesive uncovered by the second removed section of the protective cover.

Instead of peeling off the originally fastened area of the tape, the user may tear the tape adjacent the fastened area, remove the protective cover section from the remaining portion of the tape to expose fresh adhesive area and reapply the tape. For convenience in this latter type of operation, the tape may have a transverse line of perforations adjacent the original fastening area of the tape.

The above described improved tape fastening arrangement and other features of the invention will be more easily understood by reference to the following detailed description and accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of the back side of a diaper showing a common arrangement for the pressuresensitive adhesive tape fastening means.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged partial plan view of the front FIG. 4 is a sectional view similar to FIG. 3 but showing another embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 5 is another enlarged partialplan view of the front side of one corner of a diaper and fastening tape showing another embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along line 6-6 of FIG. 5.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS In the plan view of FIG. 1 there is shown the back side of a disposable diaper 10 having a thin plastic film backing 12 and a pair of pressure-sensitive tape fastening means 14.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged plan view of one corner of the front side of the diaper showing a preferred embodiment of the improved fastening tape arrangement of this invention. The diaper has a fluid-permeable cover sheet 16 beyond which the unsecured end of fastening tape 14 extends. The pressure-sensitive surface of tape 14 is covered by two sections 18 and 19 forming separately removable protective cover sheets.

The sectional view of FIG. 3 taken along line 3-3 of FIG. 2 shows the arrangement in more detail. As can be seen in FIG. 3, the diaper is comprised of an absorbent pad 22, enclosed by a thin plastic film backing 22 and a fluid-permeable cover sheet 16. The diaper structure shown, is of course, one of many which may be used with the improved fastening arrangement and no novelty is ascribed to the diaper structure itself, the invention being directed only to the improved fastening arrangement.

In the preferred fastening arrangement shown in FIG. 3 one end of pressure-sensitive tape 14 is secured to backing 12 by a layer of pressure sensitive adhesive 20. The unsecured end of tape 14 extends beyond the diaper edge and the pressure sensitive adhesive on the unsecured end of the tape is covered by two sections 18 and 19 of release material comprising separately removable protective cover sheets. One end 15 of section 18 overlays the top surface of the diaper and provides a grasping tab to aid in its removal. Section 19 which covers the adhesive area disposed on the end of the tape farthest from the diaper is folded at 13 adjacent section 18 to provide an easily grasped tap 17 to aid in removal.

When the fastening tape is put into use the mother may remove either section 18 or 19 depending upon which is more convenient for her. If section 18 of the protective cover sheet is removed first, the portion of the tape still covered by section 19 remains free and provides an easily accessible tab for unfastening the tape when repositioning is desired. When refastening the tape, section 19 is removed and the fresh adhesive located thereunder is used to adhere the tape in the refastening procedure.

In FIG. 4 the arrangement of the sections 18a and 19a the protective cover sheet is similar to FIG. 3 except that the section 19a which covers the free end of the unsecured portion of the tape does not have a folded grasping tab. However, since one end 23 extends beyond the tape, this end can serve that purpose. Again while either protective cover sheet section may be removed first, it would appear that the removall of 18a for the first fastening operation would be most convenient.

In a modified embodiment of the FIG. 4 arrangement, tape 14 may be provided with a perforated line of weakening 24 coextensive with the line where section 18a and 19a meet. In this embodiment, section 19a may be removed for the first fastening. Then when refastening is desired, the tape may be torn along line of weakening 24 and refastened by removing protective cover section 18a to expose fresh adhesive area. This modification may also be employed in the FIG. 3 embodiment if desired.

In FIG. and 6 another embodiment of the invention is shown. In that arrangement the pressure-sensitive surface of tape 14b is covered by two sections of protective cover sheets 28 and 29 each of which extend along the entire length of the unsecured portion of tape 14b. In this embodiment, the lower half of pressuresensitive adhesive b is covered by protective cover section 29 while the upper half is covered by protective section 28. The two sections prefereably overlap at 30 to provide an easily identifiable divisional mark but this is not necessary since the cover sheets may still be grasped for removal where they extend beyond the tape on either end as well as the well as the edges. In using this embodiment of the invention protective cover section 28 may be removed first and the uncovered area of the pressure-sensitive adhesive used to fasten the tape. When the tape is subsequently stripped off from the diaper for refastening, section 29 may then be removed to uncover the fresh adhesive area lying thereunder for refastening purposes.

As with the other embodiments the order of removal for the protective cover sections is optional depending upon what sequence is more convenient to the user.

While several preferred embodiments of the invention have been shown and described above, it is readily apparent that other arrangements of multi-sectional protective cover sheets may be used, the important factor being that all of the pressure-sensitive adhesive area in the unsecured end of the tape should not be utilized in the first fastening. It is also possible to use more than two protective sections, but more than one refastening operation probably is not normally required before final disposal of the used diaper.

What is claimed is:

1. In a fastening device for disposable diapers which comprises an elongate strip of pressure-sensitive tape having one end portion secured to a back of the diaper with the unsecured end portion of said tape extending beyond the edge of said diaper and having the pressuresensitive adhesive surface on the unsecured end portion of said tape covered with a removable protective covering, the improvement wherein the protective covering disposed over the pressure-sensitive adhesive surface on the unsecured end portion of said tape is comprised of at least two separately removable sections, each of said sections separately protecting a different area of the adhesive surface on said unsecured portion whereby when one of said sections is individually removed only that area of the adhesive surface initially protected by the removed section will be exposed and made available for fastening purposes while the remaining area of the adhesive surface on said unsecured end portion remains covered.

2. The fastening device of claim 1 wherein the pressure-sensitive adhesive surface on the unsecured end portion of said tape is divided transversely into two adjacent areas and each of said areas is covered by a separate removable section of said protective covering.

3. The fastening device of claim 2 in which that removable section which covers the adhesive surface area at the unsecured far end of the tape has a fold on the side nearest the diaper with the free end of the fold extending away from the diaper.

4. The fastening device of claim 2 wherein said unsecured end portion of said tape is provided with a line of weakening between the two adjacent adhesive areas into which said end portion is divided.

5. The fastening device of claim 3 wherein said unsecured end portion of said tape is provided with a line of weakening between the two adjacent adhesive areas into which said end portion is divided.

6. The fastening device of claim 1 wherein the pressure-sensitive surface on the unsecured end portion of said tape is divided longitudinally into two adjacent areas and each of said areas is covered by a separately removable section of said protective covering.

7. The fastening device of claim 6 in which the adjoinging longitudinal edges of said removable sections overlap. 

1. In a fastening device for disposable diapers which comprises an elongate strip of pressure-sensitive tape having one end portion secured to a back of the diaper with the unsecured end portion of said tape extending beyond the edge of said diaper and having the pressure-sensitive adhesive surface on the unsecured end portion of said tape covered with a removable protective covering, the improvement wherein the protective covering disposed over the pressure-sensitive adhesive surface on the unsecured end portion of said tape is comprised of at least two separately removable sections, each of said sections separately protecting a different area of the adhesive surface on said unsecured portion whereby when one of said sections is individually removed only that area of the adhesive surface initially protected by the removed section will be exposed and made available for fastening purposes while the remaining area of the adhesive surface on said unsecured end portion remains covered.
 2. The fastening device of claim 1 wherein the pressure-sensitive adhesive surface on the unsecured end portion of said tape is divided transversely into two adjacent areas and each of said areas is covered by a separate removable section of said protective covering.
 3. The fastening device of claim 2 in which that removable section which covers the adhesive surface area at the unsecured far end of the tape has a fold on the side nearest the diaper with the free end of the fold extending away from the diaper.
 4. The fastening device of claim 2 wherein said unsecured end portion of said tape is provided with a line of weakening between the two adjacent adhesive areas into which said end portion is divided.
 5. The fastening device of claim 3 wherein said unsecured end portion of said tape is provided with a line of weakening between the two adjacent adhesive areas into which said end portion is divided.
 6. The fastening device of claim 1 wherein the pressure-sensitive surface on the unsecured end portion of said tape is divided longitudinally into two adjacent areas and each of said areas is covered by a separately removable section of said protective covering.
 7. The fastening device of claim 6 in which the adjoinging longitudinal edges of said removable sections overlap. 